Chapter 5

The male student was left speechless by the retort.

"Enough!" Huo Mingzhang stepped in to smooth things over. "Are you hungry? Hurry up and get some food from the window. If you wait any longer, the shrimp dumpling wontons you like will be gone."

Zhou Xiaoting gave a cold snort and strode away, her ponytail swinging behind her.

Gu Chen watched Zhou Xiaoting's retreating figure. He was actually a little surprised. He hadn't expected Zhou Xiaoting to speak up for him. Although she hadn't liked Gu Xiu in his previous life either, constantly clashing with him and mocking him, she had looked down on Gu Chen as well. Of course, it wasn't just Zhou Xiaoting. In his previous life, hardly anyone around Gu Chen had liked him, apart from his parents and family.

"What are you thinking about?" Huo Mingzhang snapped his fingers in front of Gu Chen and raised an eyebrow teasingly. "After watching a beauty save a hero, don't tell me you've fallen for her?"

Gu Chen came back to himself and lowered his head to continue drinking his porridge.

Huo Mingzhang found his reaction boring. After thinking it over, he added, "Let me give you some advice. Even if you do like her, don't take it too seriously. You and Zhou Xiaoting are never going to happen." People like them, even if they married for love, couldn't come from families that were too far apart in status.

Huo Mingzhang thought he meant well. Unfortunately, Gu Chen was the kind of person who repaid kindness with ingratitude and had no intention of appreciating it.

—No, more accurately, Gu Chen didn't even make an expression.

Huo Mingzhang's teeth itched as he watched him, and he couldn't help complaining, "Your name really suits you."

Gu Xiu looked at Gu Chen, who had ignored him from beginning to end, and was so angry he couldn't eat breakfast anymore. "I'm not eating!"

Gu Xiu shoved away his tray and stomped off in a huff. Gu Chen called after him, "Wait!"

Gu Xiu turned around, cheeks puffed out. "What?"

Gu Chen pointed at Gu Xiu's tray. "If you're not eating it, I will. Don't waste food."

Gu Xiu felt a surge of anger rise from his chest straight to the top of his head, making his head buzz. "Eat! Eat! Eat! Stuff yourself to death!"

Gu Xiu turned and ran off.

Gu Chen calmly finished Gu Xiu's breakfast—he was genuinely stuffed.

Huo Mingzhang narrowed his eyes as he studied Gu Chen. "You weren't actually angry just now, were you?"

Gu Chen couldn't be bothered to explain that his emotions had long since been exhausted. Outside of plot-related moments, he couldn't even be bothered to say one extra word to plot characters.

Huo Mingzhang watched Gu Chen walk away on his own and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"He seems to really hate you." Huo Mingzhang's two cronies looked slightly worried. "Will he still join our school basketball team?"

Huo Mingzhang said nothing. Before leaving the cafeteria after breakfast, he still remembered to buy two custard buns with molten salted egg yolk filling from the window.

Chapter 5

The freshmen had two weeks of military training at the start of the school year. By the time Gu Chen reached the sports field, almost all the first-year students had arrived. He followed the class signs until he found his class, only to see Gu Xiu surrounded by a crowd. When Gu Xiu saw him approach, he glared at him indignantly, then turned his back on him.

"Gu Chen, I have to say something to you today. Aren't you going too far? You were in so much pain last night. Gu Xiu took such good care of you—I saw it all clearly with Xia Tian. He treats you so well. You can't keep bullying him, can you?"

"Exactly! He was worried that you might not be used to the food here, so he specially made you a bowl of dough drop soup. Then he carried it all the way back from the cafeteria for you. After you fell asleep, he even washed your clothes and bedsheets. Not only did you not thank him, you deliberately upset him this morning. You made him so angry that he didn't even eat breakfast. We have military training all day—do you know how much strength that takes? Don't you care about anyone at all?"

"Even if he isn't your biological younger brother, the two of you have lived together for eighteen years. Do you have no feelings for him whatsoever?"

"Exactly!"

The students gathered around Gu Xiu all chimed in, denouncing Gu Chen on his behalf. Their indignation was so loud and forceful that freshmen who had not known what was going on were drawn over as well. Once they understood the situation, they immediately joined the group condemning him.

Gu Xiu snapped out of it and said loudly, "My brother treats me very well. Really, he's always been very good to me. Don't talk about him like that. I just didn't want breakfast. It has nothing to do with my brother. Really, stop talking. He'll get angry."

Hearing Gu Xiu defend Gu Chen like that made the surrounding students even more unable to stand it. "Look at how good your younger brother is to you, how much he considers your feelings. Now look at yourself. What kind of older brother acts like this?"

"So what?" Gu Chen was getting impatient. He had had enough of these aimless, never-ending accusations.

Gu Chen's gaze swept across the righteous and furious crowd before finally settling on Gu Xiu. "I've always been like this. If you feel uncomfortable or dissatisfied, then from now on, you don't have to acknowledge me as your brother. You're an adult already, and you got into A University. The Gu Family raised you for eighteen years and has done right by you. I don't believe I've ever wronged you either."

The moment Gu Chen said that, the surroundings fell silent. Everyone was stunned. They hadn't expected his reaction to be so intense.

Gu Xiu was stunned too. He stared blankly at Gu Chen, only coming back to himself after a long while. Then he burst into tears, grabbed Gu Chen's sleeve, and apologized over and over again. "Brother, I was wrong. Don't be angry. I'll never lose my temper with you again. Please don't abandon me, okay?"

Gu Xiu cried hard. The sight of a beauty weeping like pear blossoms in the rain was truly heartbreaking. What was more, Gu Xiu had such a pitiful background.

The people who had been criticizing Gu Chen became even angrier. "What kind of attitude is that? We only said a few things because we couldn't stand watching it. Did you have to take your anger out on Gu Xiu? Is this how you usually bully and scare him too? This is abuse, you know?"

"What's going on now?" When Huo Mingzhang and the others wandered over to the sports field, this was the scene they saw.

Zhou Xiaoting looked at the sniffling Gu Xiu and felt utterly speechless. "It's such a trivial matter, yet you people are dragging it on and on. You lot judging this case must have way too much free time. What family could abuse a child and still raise him into a top student at A University? Besides, Gu Xiu is all fair and clean-looking. He doesn't look abused at all."

"Hey!" Zhou Xiaoting turned to Gu Xiu. "Do you think you were abused as the Gu Family's adopted son?"